TS 307 
.M96 
Copy 1 


IRON 



MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


a CIjanTisgtinng ^tgcourge, 

11 


PREACHED IN MORIAH, N. Y., 




kv> 


MYRON A. MUNSON, M. 



NOVEMBER 28, 1872. 






Is 

CAMBRIDGE: 

PRINTED AT THE RIVERSIDE PRESS. 

i873- 












At the Union Thanksgiving Service, on motion of Rev. Mr. Craf, 
seconded by George Sherman, Esq., a request was cordially voted that the 
following Discourse be presented for publication. 

For the profit of the uninitiated, several parts of the subject have been 
illuminated by copious notes. 



\ 


Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 
Myron A. Munson, 

in (he Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Preached in Moriah, N. Y., 


&U -IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN ^OLD. 


*<}, 




Not. 28, 1872. Printed at the Riverside Press, 1873 ; pp. 24; ^priee^O'Ce'Tlte: 

* A- 




si~r *U^t ^4-, , *A4. v sA'\ 


' _ ,.„. 

“ I congratulate you on your happy way of popularizing so much scientific lore.'”—C harles H. Merrill, 
Pastor at Brattleboro\ IVest. 

“This sermon is out of the ordinary run of such productions, being a truly valuable monograph on iron. 
It is brimful of interesting and suggestive facts, which are presented in such a manner that even the details are 
not dry, but are readable and entertaining. We commend this ‘new departure ’ to other preachers of Thanks¬ 
giving sermons.”— Rutland Daily Herald. 

“ A singular discourse. It is an exhaustive though condensed discussion on iron viewed as a divine instru¬ 
ment in civilization, and seems to be'well adapted to the peculiar wants of the iron-working community in which 
it was delivered.”— The Congregational 1 st. 

“ I was recently shown a sermon of yours on Iron, which interested me much, and I shall be greatly obliged 
• to you for a copy.”—A nd. D. White, LL. D., President 0/ Cornell University. 

“A unique sermon; extremely interesting.”— The Advance. 

“ I read his paragraph upon the * Poetry of Ore ’ with moistened eyes.”—P rincipal Dowler, Brighton , 

Canada. 

“ I was delighted to receive your choice and instructive and eloquent discoursing upon a subject ‘ more 
golden than gold.’ It w'ould have been a real treat to me to sit among your iron-workers and hear. Doubtless 

you have so gilded their occupation for them, that it should always remain such.”-, M.A. 

“ Most elaborate and ingenious. It has the solid metal in it. Only a grand miner could excavate such a 
weighty mass —‘ moles immensa ’—of useful thought and instiuction. Into the Gazetteer I at once plunged, 
and hunted out that iron-wefted realm. Much I wish I could explore it.”—L yman Whiting, D. D., Phila¬ 
delphia, 1876. 

“ Brilliant. . . There is nothing to be corrected. I go rather to your discourse to learn, as there is much 
; in it that is new to me,” etc.—C harles H. Hitchcock, Professor of Geology in Dartmouth College , and 
State Geologist of N. H. 

“I read it through twice. I was very much pleased with it. 1 consider it a model sermon.”—P rof. 

' Edwards A. Park, D. D., Andover. 









III.—THBl UPRIGHT ANDlUSEFUL CITIZEN. 

CoivImemorative of Dea. Samuel Lyman. 


Preached in Southampton, Mass., 
20 cents. 


Ian. 


7, 1877. Printed byftVeaver, Shipman Si Co., 1877; pp. 33; price, 


Colonel Lyman was a type of the class of men who realed the civil and religious institutions of New 
England. He was conscientious ana upright, a man of strona convictions, and, when fully assured of the 
correctness of his opinions and the rlctitude of his conduct, wse as immovable as lhe everlasting mountains 
among which he drew his natal breath .!’ —Hampshire Gazette. 


* Some of the readers of this circllar may be willing to see a few words taken frdln an elaborate criticism 
of an earlier production, The DisguisSk 0/ Satan. Prof. Phelps Vvrote of it: “ This lermon has certain very 
positive excellences. 1. It has a positive theology pervading it. 2.\lt has a positive practical aim. 3. It has 
sharp and crisp statements of the leading divisions. 4. It has an Accellent order of thAight. 5. It has perti¬ 
nent illustrative materials. 6. It has a slide which is perspicuous, ra\y, forcible, various |i construction.” 




DISCOURSE. 


“ A land whose stones are Iron.” — Deut. viii. 9. 

AN EYE-OPENING LODESTONE. 

„._n 

Y OU have seen a magnet attract iron-filings, hug them to its 
bosom and carry them wherever it might please to go. 
Imagine now a colossal magnet, — a magnet of such transcen¬ 
dent energy that it might instantly draw into its embrace every 
article of Iron within a radius of five or ten miles ; and suppose 
that during the darkness of this Thanksgiving night — after 
deep sleep shall have sealed up the senses of mankind — our 
colossal magnet should begin to shoot across the continent, back 
and forth, like a shuttle, and swift as a meteor, — silently gather¬ 
ing up all the Iron between Behring Strait and Tierra del Fuego, 
and at each turn discharging its elephantine load into the Atlan¬ 
tic or the Pacific: what consternation would be witnessed to¬ 
morrow morning ! 

After rising from his bed and dressing himself, one steps to his 
door: “ Aha! how is this ? ” he exclaims —“ key gone — yes, and 
the lock too — and the latch — the very hinges ! Don’t see the 
need of all that ; queerest burglars I ever heard of.” He con¬ 
cludes that he may as well go on and kindle a fire. Approaching 
the wood-house, he thrusts his hand into his pocket for his knife ; 
it is not there. He goes for the axe ; it also has disappeared. 
“ Well, well,” he exclaims, “ this is strange ! ” With rising ex¬ 
citement, he pushes open the kitchen-door and stands stock-still, 
his eyes dilating with amazement and his face turning white with 
terror. That huge kitchen-range — where is it ? and the kettles 
— and the frying-pans ? and where is the pipe — and the wire 
that held it in place — and the nails to which the wire was fast¬ 
ened ? There is the waterpail too, without hoop or handle. “ Is 


4 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


this a dream,” cries the frenzied man, “or am I mad? ” Unable 
to solve the enigma, he determines to quit the bedeviled place. 
Rushing to the barn for his horse — behold that wagon — 
stripped of every tire, every spring, every brace, bolt, band, and 
rivet! He will go on horseback then : but that bridle — it has 
neither bit nor buckle. Just now a gale rises : it attacks the house 
and barn from which every nail has been extracted by the all-con¬ 
quering lodestone, and instantly the air is ashower with fluttering 
shingles and sailing clapboards ! Away, away flies the maniac 
to the depot ; mirabile visu ! every car-wheel and axle has evan¬ 
ished, the locomotives have disappeared bodily, and there is not 
a rail on the track, nor a chair, nor a spike — throughout this 
boundless continent! Human nature can endure no longer, and 
our hero swoons to the ground, half-dead with fright. 

O how great is our dependence upon this most modest and 
most commonplace of all the metals ! How utterly helpless 
should we find ourselves without it! Without steam-engines, 
without stoves, without wagon-tires, without saws, axes, augers, 
knives, and nails, — the whole business of mankind would come 
to an absolute pause, and every centre of civilized life would 
relapse into barbarism or desolation. 

RECOGNITION OF A SOVEREIGN GIFT. 

Friends, were my supposition of the lodestone to be realized 
to-night, were you to wake to-morrow morning and find yourselves 
deprived of the implements, the utensils, the multifarious con¬ 
veniences which you owe to Iron, what would you not give to re¬ 
cover even a small portion of that which was lost ? After spend¬ 
ing two or three hours in the effort to reduce an oak or maple 
into firewood by mauling it with a sharp-edged stone or a slab 
of copper, — if some kind angel should cleave his way through 
the air with your axe in his hand, and present it to you, would 
not your heart swell with gratitude almost to bursting? Or, 
after spending half a day in the effort to re-fasten the clapboards 
to your house by means of strings and props, —if some friendly 
angel should wing his way from the ocean with a keg of nails, 
and offer them to you, would not tears of joy gush from your 
eyes, as you fell upon your knees, exclaiming, “ Ten thousand 
thousand thanks, dear angel! ” My hearers, have we less occa¬ 
sion to be grateful for a hundred, five hundred, ten hundred 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


5 

blessings made of Iron, than we should have for one ? If we 
might be almost painfully thankful to an angel who should supply 
us in a time of destitution with a single edged tool, — how shall 
we express sufficient thankfulness unto the God of the angels to 
whom we are indebted for the multitudinous fabrics which are 
fashioned in Iron ! This most useful of metals is doubtless, is 
verily, a good gift, — it is perfect: and there is none to contradict 
that apostle who declared — “ Every good gift and every perfect 
gift is from above, and coineth down from the Father of lights.” 

In the audience of those dwelling in a town “ whose stones are 
Iron,” 1 whose thoughts and whose hands are occupied with the 

1 Ore was procured from the Cheever Bed as early as 1804. The first open¬ 
ing was made at Mineville, in 1824, when one-half of the Sanford Bed was sold 
for $200. Ore was discovered about a foot under the surface. An interest 
was acquired in this property by George Sherman, in 1846, and by S. H. & J. 
G. Witherbee, also, in 1849. The quantity of ore now raised from these beds 
each week, is nearly equal to the total quantity which had been raised when 
Mr. Sherman became an owner in 1846. That total of 6,000 tons had been 
sold at prices varying from fifty cents to $2.50, at the mines 

Principal Owners. 

Witherbees, Sherman, & Co. (S. H. £ and J. G. Witherbee, George and 
George Riley Sherman, ^ —firm constituted in 1862) — own the Old Bed, the 
New Bed, a one-fifth interest in the P. IT. I. O. Co., and one-half the L. C. 
and M. R. R. (7 miles, rising 1400 feet; opened in 1869). Produce, 1872, 
nearly 140,000 tons. 

Port Henry Iron Ore Co. (W., Sh., & Co. -L; Griswold, 1 ; Burden & Son, i.; 
Bech, Tower, & Brinsmade, -|), own 21, 23, 24 (in part), rights on the W. end 
of 25, Fisher Hill Bed, and one-half the R. R. : George Roe, agent. Pro¬ 
duce 1872, over 140,000 tons. Employes , 400. 

Cheever Ore Bed Co. (Mass, men), own Cheever Ore Bed, R. R. to Lake 
(| mile) etc. : Presbrey, agent. 

Bay State Iron Co. (S. Hooper, J. H. Reed, and others, of Boston) own the 
Barton Bed and the Furnace property at Port Henry: Foote, agent. 

Witherbees & Fletcher, own the Furnace at 75, etc. 

Smith & Co. (M. P. Smith Calkins Burleigh Morrison Colwell 
yV), own the Smith mine. 

Cleveland Co. owns the Pelfishier mine. 

Principal Properties. 

Old Bed, N. E. corner of 25, owned by W., Sh., & Co. : average yield the 
six years preceding 1869, 43,500 tons : 250 to 300 men : Tifft, Supt. 

New Bed, S. W. corner of 24 (+25), owned by W., Sh., & Co.: average for 
the above period, 6,700 tons ; £ of it requires separating : 50 to 70 men. 

No. 21 (^ sold in 1829 for $125 ; not worked till 1846), owned by P. H. I. O., 
Co. : average, 36,000 tons : Goff, Supt. No. 23, owned by P. H. I. O. Co. : 


6 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


ore of this metal, and whose hopes, prosperities, and enjoyments, 
are founded upon it. I can think of no other theme so suitable 
on a Thanksgiving occasion, as 


THE EXCELLENCY —THE PERFECTION OF THIS GIFT OF 

GOD, THE GIFT OF IRON. 


VALUE OF IRON, ARISING FROM ITS PROPERTIES. 

The surpassing value of Iron arises primarily, of course, from 
the properties which it possesses. 

Tenacious . — One of its conspicuous properties is tenacity. In¬ 


average, 9,400. No. 24 (excluding New Bed), ib. : average, 9,700. Nos. 21, 
23 and 24, employ 250 to 300 men. Fisher Bed, owned by P. H. I. O. Co. : 
6,500 tons : ore lean and requires separating. 

Smith Mine, owned by Smith & Co. : average, 13,000 : 30 to 40 men. 
Barton Bed, owned by B. S. I. Co. : 5,000 to 8,coo : 35 men. 

Pelfishier Mine, owned by Cl. Co. : 8,000 to 10,000 : requires separating : 
30 to 100 men. 

Cheever Bed (sold by Cheever in 1838, for $5,000) ; owned by C. O. B. Co. : 
about 60,000 tons : 230 men. 

Numerous other promising beds and ore lands which cannot here be speci¬ 
fied. 

Seventy-five Furnace (charcoal), owned by W. & F. : sometimes produced 
10 or 11 tons per day. 

Port Henry Furnace, owned by B. S. I. Co. : average 32 tons daily. Chee¬ 
ver & Barton ores in equal proportion: in the five years preceding 1869, 
58,000 tons of pig-iron, requiring 100,800 tons of ore and 108,000 tons of coal : 
135 men. 

W. F. Gookin, Esq., to whom the public is indebted for most of the pub¬ 
lished knowledge respecting the mines, has computed that the amount of ore 
raised from the ore-beds of Moriah up to Jan. 1, 1869, is 1,100,000 tons. In 

1869, W., Sh., & Co., and P. II. I. O. Co., brought to light 120,000 tons; in 

1870, 153,000 ; in 1871, 193,000. 

The production for 1872 is nearly as follows : — 

Witherbees, Sherman, & Co., ) 

£.280,000 


P. H. Iron Ore Co., 
Cheever O. B. Co., 
Smith & Co., 
Cleveland Co.. 

Bay State I. Co., - 


60,000 

12,000 

8,000 

5,000 


365,000 

The various mines are pumped and their ores hoisted by steam-power. 

More than one-tenth of the Iron produced in the United States is mined in 
Moriah. 



IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


7 


deed, wrought-iron opposes a greater resistance than any other 
substance to a force applied to draw it asunder. 1 Platinum is 
nearly as strong, but it is a very scarce metal. A rod of Iron has 
tenacity equivalent to one-and-a-half such rods of copper or sil¬ 
ver, two of gold, three of boxwood, or five of oak. 2 A bar of 
Iron one inch square will sustain a weight of thirty tons, while a 
bar of steel will sustain a burden of sixty tons. Iron wire one- 
thirtieth of an inch in diameter, has borne a load equivalent to 
ninety tons to the square inch 3 without breaking. 

Finn .— Cast-iron, however, is better than wrought-iron for col¬ 
umns. Indeed there is no other material in common use which 
is so well adapted to resist a compressive force. Granite is only 
one-sixth as strong, Italian marble one-seventh, freestone one- 
tenth, and brick is still feebler. 

Ductile. —Wrought-iron, that is Iron which has been purified 
from carbon, is ductile, like wax ; by which we mean that it is 
capable of being drawn out into wire, of any desired length or 
fineness. This valuable property is called its ductility. 

Malleable .— The same kind of Iron is capable of being extend¬ 
ed by hammering or rolling, into plates and sheets. At the 
Breslau Exhibition, 4 there was shown a hundred weight of iron 
rolled to such thinness that two hundred and fifty leaves of it 
would make a pile only one inch thick. There might have been 
printing done upon those sheets ; they were as flexible as paper. 
Indeed a quantity of them were bound up in the form of a book. 

When malleable Iron 5 (another name for wrought or bar Iron) 
is heated to redness, it becomes very soft and pliable, and is 
easily worked under the hammer. 

Weldable. — But its most remarkable property, according to 
Professor Johnston, and a property to which its usefulness in the 
arts is very much owing, is its capacity of being welded, — that 

1 My authorities all agree to this. But I find one of them is so inconsis¬ 
tent as to say in another place that the tenacity of nickel is greater than that 
of Iron, and in another place that the tenacity of cobalt is nearly twice that of 
Iron. 

2 Three of cast-iron, five of pine or beech, seven of mahogany. 

3 Area of section. 

4 In 1852. 

5 Malleable Iron is now employed more extensively than cast-iron. Any 
degree of rigidity may be obtained by the employment of a tubular or cellular 
structure, while in many cases two-thirds may be saved in the weight of material. 


3 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


is, two pieces may be brought together at a white heat and ham¬ 
mered into as perfect a union as though they had originally consti¬ 
tuted but one piece. It is a curious fact, though, that the weld¬ 
ing property of the metal is destroyed by the presence of a slight 
tinge of a certain element: if Iron has only three parts of sulphur 
in ten thousand, it is not weldable. There is no other metal 1 to 
which welding can be usefully applied. 

Moldable. — The carburetted form of this metal — in which 
there is five per cent of carbon — is called cast-iron. 2 It is easily 
fusible, and when fused is very fluid so that it may be run into 
molds of various patterns with entire success. The tendency of 
the fluid to expand in cooling, serves to enhance the nicety with 
which the fine lines of the mold are filled, and thus contributes 
to the perfection of the casting. 

AVe are not likely to exaggerate the value of this property of 
Iron. Observe how it is applied, in a single city of the Empire 
State, to the production of stoves. The utensils of this kind 
which are sent forth each year from the foundries 3 in Albany, 4 
if drawn out northward in a single compact line, would extend 
along the Hudson and Lake Champlain as far as the Ausable 
river. 

Temperable. — A very precious form of Iron is that which con¬ 
tains about one-and-a-half per cent of carbon, and is known as 
steel. It resembles cast-iron in hardness, 5 and in that it may be 
cast, 6 while it resembles malleable Iron in strength, and in that 
it may be forged. Its prime specialty, however, is its suscepti¬ 
bility of being tempered , that is, made hard or soft at pleasure. 
You may forge and temper it to an edge , and this is no doubt the 
blossoming estate of the metal. Every knife, every plane, every 
auger, every saw, — every cutting instrument whatsoever, — bears 
witness to the transcendent value of this property of Iron. 

1 The exception of platinum is unimportant. 

2 Unknown to the ancients. Whether they made steel or wrought-iron by 
theii piocesses, was a mattei of chance. Cast-iron was first regularly made in 
the fifteenth century. 

3 In foundries cast-iron is melted, and molded into various utensils ; while 
in forges, malleable Iron is heated, and fabricated by hammering. A hammer 
at the Mersey Iron Works in Liverpool weighs nearly thirty-three tons ! 

4 Over a dozen years ago, 200,000 annually. 

5 Harder than any other substance except diamond and crystallized alumina. 

6 Fuses at 2192 0 —2552 0 F. 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


9 

Magnetizable. — The other various properties of our metal 
need not be mentioned in this place, — unless we should add per¬ 
haps that Iron is attracted by the magnet. 1 One of the Plinies, 
a thousand eight hundred years ago, related a curious proposal 
that had been invented in regard to the Iron statue of Arsinoe, 
sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus. This proposal was to suspend 
the statue in a temple by the equilibrium of several magnets act¬ 
ing against gravity. Of course the image hovering thus in the 
air — without any visible means of suspension, would seem to be 
upheld by a miracle. 

It is this obedience of Iron to the magnet which indicates the 
presence of ore to a surveyor, by causing the needle of the com¬ 
pass to decline from the magnetic meridian, — as was the case at 
Mineville in 1810. Following a clue furnished in this way, one 
of your townsmen — within the memory of the youngest of you 2 — 
went to a sandy knoll in a pasture, where there was not the 
slightest show of Iron upon the surface, and excavated a shaft 
through one hundred feet of hard-pan before even a very thin 
vein of ore was reached ; and then it was not until forty-six feet 
of rock had been penetrated that the plucky explorer found that 
extensive and precious vein of ore which had attracted the 
magnetic needle so remarkably. 3 

VALUE DEPENDING ON ABUNDANCE AND DIFFUSION. 

Without lingering longer amidst the curious and serviceable 
properties of Iron, I proceed to observe that the surpassing value 
of the metal arises, secondarily, from its vast abundance and the 
. universality of its diffusion. 

Abundance. — Its abundance is a grand element of value. 
Small quantities are insufficient for large uses. Diamond would 

1 It is itself susceptible of being rendered magnetic (permanently in some 
forms, as steel and black oxide), a property possessed by no other metal except 
nickel. The natural magnet or lodestone (leading stone, the stone that leads, 
or guides) is an oxide of Iron. 

“The ancients regarded the magnetic power of Iron as miraculous.” — 
Hunt’s Poetry of Science. 

2 Smith’s mine was opened in June, 1866. 

3 At the surface, the dip-needle of the mining-compass was drawn down 
from the horizon 37^-° ; at 15 feet below, it came down to 55 0 ; and thencefor¬ 
ward it declined i° each foot until it became vertical (marking 90 0 .) A vein 
of ore was found 14 feet thick, and a yard beneath it, another 10 feet thick. 


2 


10 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


be an elegant building-material if there were a competent supply 
of it. Gold is quite as malleable and quite as ductile as Iron ; 
but it would not go far towards supplying the world with engine- 
boilers, stove-pipes and wire-cables. If Iron were as scarce a 
metal as cadmium, its various admirable properties would be of 
no worth whatever. According to the chemists, cadmium, 1 if 
there were enough of it, would be useful in the arts, and palla¬ 
dium 2 would be very useful; but their great scarcity renders them 
useless. 

The deposits of Iron ore, on the other hand, are immense. This 
best of all ores — better than copper, better than silver, better 
than platinum, 3 better than gold — this best of all ores is offered 
us not by the grain, nor by the nugget, nor by the boulder, but 
by the mountain. There are twenty-three thousand tons of gold 4 
in the hands of the human race; but each year there is deported 
from the township of Moriah ten times that quantity of metallic 
Iron, 5 while the United States produces eight and one-half times 
as much as Moriah, and the world produces seven times as much 
as the United States. The amount of new Iron consumed an¬ 
nually— fourteen millions of tons 6 — outweighs six hundred times 

1 A white metal, much like tin. 

2 A white, hard, very malleable and ductile metal, which is susceptible of 
fine polish. 

3 A metal of silvery complexion. It obstinately resists fire and chemical 
action, and is therefore excellent for crucibles and retorts. Platinum is the 
heaviest substance known (except perhaps iridium), being 2i\ times as heavy 
as water, and nearly three times as heavy as Iron. (Cast-iron weighs about 
four ounces to the cubic inch.) Its value is five times that of silver, not quite 
one-half that of gold. It is obtained from South America, Russia, and 
Borneo. 

4 An obliging note from that eminent political economist, the Honorable 
Amasa Walker, furnishes me with the data for this interesting fact. The 
amount of gold existing prior to 1848, he estimates (with Humboldt) at 10,000 
millions; the amount produced since he computes to be 2,500 millions ; total, 
$12,500,000,000. As a dollar contains 25^ grains, the weight of all these 
millions would be 23,035^ tons. 

5 237,000 tons (=65 per cent of 365,000 tons of ore.) 

0 Yield this year, of which Great Britain produces one-half, 7,000,000 tons, 
and the United States, one-seventh, 2,000,000 tons — Pop. Sc. Monthly, July, 
1872. 

In 1871, Great Britain produced 6,500,000 tons, France (with plenty of ore 
but little coal) 1,350,000 tons, Germany 1,250,000, Belgium 896,000, Austria 
450,000, Russia 330,000, Sweden and Norway 280,000, Italy 75,000, and Spain 
72,000. — Ryland’s Iron Trade Circular. 

As to the United States, “ the greater part of the manufacture must event- 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


11 

the gold possessed by all the nations of the earth. So vast is the 
abundance of this mineral. 

Diffusion. — I mentioned as another element in the value of 
Iron, the universality with which it is distributed throughout the 
earth. It is gratifying that an article imperatively needed by ev¬ 
erybody should be found everywhere. No matter that diamond 
and platinum are restricted to a few localities; we can spare 
them both, and should we require them, they are easily transport¬ 
ed. But the iron which should supply our need would be too 
ponderous to be brought from the other side of the world, and 
accordingly the Great Provider has buried deposits of it within 
easy reach of every community on earth. 

Besides these rich deposits which are worth mining, observe 
that there is an unlimited quantity of ferruginous matter which 
will never be worked; for this great globe is peppered with Iron 
from centre to circumference. You may find it in every longitude 
and every latitude, in every mineral formation — all stones and 
all soils, in many springs of water, in almost every plant and in 
the blood of every animal. 1 It is in the marble columns 2 of 
the Capitol at Washington, in the plates of mica through which 
my coal-fire is shining, in the sugar-beets 3 we saw swaggering 
in your garden last summer, and even in the green spectacles 
worn by your weak-eyed uncle. Wherever yellow appears in 
stone, sand, soil or loam, there is photographed the hydrated 
sesquioxide of Iron, or brown hematite ; and from every cliff of 
red chalk and red sandstone, the anhydrous sesquioxide of Iron 
unfurls its banner of blood. 4 

Must we not admire and bless The Hand which has constituted 
Iron with properties of such eminent and indispensable 5 utility, 

ually establish itself in the valley of the Mississippi, where vast deposits of 
coal and iron exist.” — Wm. Fairbairn, C. E., LL. D. 

1 “ It is the only metal which is not injurious to the health, and the only 
metal which forms a never-failing constituent of the body.”— Stockhardt. 

2 Carbonate of protoxide of Iron ; of one per cent! 

3 Professor Goessmann in Report of Massachusetts Agricultural College , 
1872. 

4 Nearly all green stones and black stones owe their color to protoxide of 
Iron. 

5 As early as 1622, “ an iron work was set up ” on James River, Virginia. 

In 1731, Col. Dunbar, surveyor-general of His Majesty’s woods, reported 

to his superiors the following : “They have 6 furnaces and 19 forges for mak¬ 
ing iron in New England.”— New Am. Cyc. 


12 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


which stored the chambers of the earth with it in such profusion, 
and moreover distributed these beneficent stores amongst all the 
communities under heaven. 

VALUE RESULTING FROM ITS FURTHERANCE OF LABOR. 

I have reserved, hitherto, a very interesting element in the 
value of Iron, — perhaps it might not occur to you without a lit¬ 
tle reflection; I mean its opening a wide and profitable field to 
human labor. By the sweat of the brow we eat our bread ; and 
this arrangement, for beings who are dep?*aved, is by no means a 
cursed one : it is full of benignity, ministering to health, content¬ 
ment, the mind’s strength and the soul’s virtue. Compare the 
welfare of the industrious races of mankind with the welfare of 
those that are indolent and idle. But however this may be, as 
simple matter of fact we must all find work to do ; and I repeat 
what was stated a moment ago, that the metal which we have un¬ 
der notice, opens a wide and profitable field to human labor. The 
Divine Hand has not stored the earth with coffee-mills, and 
hammers, and chisels, and bolts, and nuts, and screws ; what you 
find there is a mass of rock. 

Metal to be Co?iverted into Utensils. — I doubt whether any other 
material is so much enhanced in price by the labor bestowed 
upon it. Here, for example, is a bar of Iron worth $5 ; in the 
form of horseshoes, it is worth at least $10 ; in the form of 
needles, $55 ; in penknife blades, $3,300 ; in balance-springs 
of watches, a quarter of a million of dollars. 

Ore to be Converted into Metal. — But there is more to say. 
That bar of Iron which was wrought into these fabrics, was not 
found in the mine. The iron-stone which it represents was not 
worth $5. Sixty-six per cent, of that $5, and probably seventy- 
five per cent., was imparted to the metal by labor. 1 Let us see. 

If there can be shown any specimens of pure Iron native to 
our globe, they are exceptional and insignificant. Ignoring these 
doubtful existences, you will recognize the very limited quantities 
of ferruginous metal which have been found upon the earth’s 
surface, as of meteoric origin—having fallen from the sky. 

1 “ Though iron is the most common of the metals, it is by far the most 
difficult to obtain in a state fit for use.” Brande. 

Compare Homer’s epithet, iroXvKfxrjTos, much-wrought. 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


13 


Kitids of Ore .—The rocks in your famous ore-beds 1 are com- 
pounded of metallic Iron and several other ingredients—oxygen 
being the chief. 2 

This particular compound is called the magnetic oxide ; it is 
named magnetic because that the natural magnet or lodestone is 
of this species. The magnetic oxide is the richest of all ores. 
Indeed it is chemically impossible that any compound should 
produce a higher percentage of Iron. 3 Next in importance 4 are 
the specular ore 5 and brown hematite. 6 These are all oxides 
of the metal; 7 how perfectly they disguise all their sterling 
qualities! — mere rocks, 8 — and in this form utterly useless ex- 


1 The term ore is applied properly only to those mineral bodies which con¬ 
tain so much metal as to make it worth while to smelt them, or reduce them by 
fire to the metallic state : they must contain 25 or 30 per cent. 

2 Oxygen constitutes nearly half of the earth’s crust ( 45 per cent, in 
weight). 

3 Cannot yield more than 72.4 per cent., while specular cannot exceed 70. 

4 Magnetic and specular ores accompany each other in the same formations, 
often in the same hills. 

In the Adirondack region, the magnetic ores form very extensive beds. 

The great beds on Lake Superior and in Missouri, are chiefly specular. 

The sources of Iron in Pennsylvania are miscellaneous— magnetic ores, 
hematite, fossiliferous, etc. 

Clay iron-stone (an impure carbonate of Iron), is the sole dependence of the 
furnaces in England. It yields from 30 to 33 per cent, of Iron, rarely 40 per 
cent. The ore is often interstratified with coal. In Pennsylvania and else¬ 
where, there is a similar interstratification of ore with coal. 

5 Specular ore — so named because the faces of its crystals often shine 
like a speculum or mirror — is the sesquioxide of Iron. It is sometimes called 
red hematite. The blood-stone, used in jewelry, is a form of it. 

6 Brown hematite is the same as the above with water added (Fe 2 0 3 
4-3HO). This hydrated hematite is of the same constitution as iron-rust. 
It is employed in medicine as an antidote to arsenic. “ In a few instances 
diamonds have been found attached to loose pieces of brown hematite.” 

7 “ Iron is generally combined with oxygen, and occurs less frequently as 
a carbonate or sulphuret.”— Loomis. 

The compounds of Iron and sulphur are called iron pyrites ; they exist in 
enormous quantities, but are not worked as ores. They yield however the 
sulphate of Iron (green vitriol or copperas), which is so extensively used in the 
arts. It is a constituent of writing-ink. • 

3 Of which it takes from 2 to 3 tons, say 2^ ( Pop. Sc. Month.), to make 
one of Iron. A ton and a half of Moriah ore yields a ton of Iron. The Old 
Bed and Twenty-one, in the blast furnace, yield 65 per cent, of iron. 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


14 

cept perhaps as material for stone-wall. The problem is to divest 
the metal of the foreign elements which are combined with it. 1 

Process of Reducing. —Examine your own magnetic oxide. Take 
a chip from the Old Sandford Bed : what is it composed of? About 
72 per cent, of it — not quite three-quarters — is metallic Iron ; 
about 27 per cent, is oxygen; and then there is a little silica and 
phosphorus — less than one per cent. The question is — How 
to persuade that oxygen to let go of the Iron and leave it ? — 
Answer: First make it good-natured by treating it with melting 
tenderness, and then bring into its presence another element 
which it loves better than it does Iron, and with which it shall 
immediately elope. In plainer speech, heat the ore to the point 
of fusion, when the oxygen of the ore will prefer the carbon of 
the fuel, and having rushed into its embrace, the couple will hur¬ 
ry up the chimney in the guise of carbonic oxide. 2 The next 
question is — How to coax that silica and phosphorus to come 
away from the Iron? This is effected by the same general pro¬ 
cess. While the ore is at the melting-point, introduce to the 
silica and phosphorus some element which they like better, such 
as lime, when they will abandon the Iron and embrace the lime,— 
running off with it as a glassy slag. This slag being lighter than 
the molten Iron, will float onil, in the manner of cream. 3 

The reduction of metal from the ore is now usually effected in 
a blast-furnace. 4 Successive charges 5 of coal 6 , ore and lime- 

1 The essential constituents of ores are Iron and Oxygen. There are also 
associated with them, two, three, or several other ingredients, such as silica, 
alumina, lime, phosphorus, sulphur, and manganese. 

2 Becomes carbonic acid at the mouth of the furnace. 

3 Serviceable in protecting the melted Iron from the atmosphere, which 
would otherwise oxidize a considerable quantity of it. 

4 The high blast-furnace was introduced in the 16th century. The earlier, 
now obsolescent, process was that of the bloomary , which deoxidized the ore 
by heating it without fusion, and then hammering it into abloom, — the prod¬ 
uct being malleable Iron. 

In 1850, there were as many as 200 bloomary-fires in Essex and Clinton 
counties — 21 of them under one roof. The capacity of each fire is one ton 
a day. 

5 The weight of the coal slightly exceeds that of the ore, and the weight of 
the flux varies from ^ to ^ of that of the ore. 

tt The tons of pig-iron made with various kinds of fuel in the United 
States, at periods of 15 years apart, were as follows : 

Charcoal. Coal and Coke. Anthracite. 

1854, 342,000 54, 000 339,000 

1869, 392,000 553,000 971,000 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


15 


stone are thrown in at the top 1 until the furnace is filled, when 
the fuel is kindled, and powerful 2 blasts 3 of heated air 4 are 
driven 5 into the midst. 

The quantity of air forced through the materials in a furnace 
is incredibly great — outweighing the entire burden of ore, coal, 
and flux ! There are stacks which receive fifteen tons every 
hour. As fast as the ore is reduced, the furnace is replenished 
with new strata of coal, ore, and flux. 6 The metal is drawn off 
two or three times in twenty-four hours and run into rude moulds. 
The article we have now obtained is cast-iron. 7 (It is commonly 
known at this stage as pig-iron. 8 ) Do you wish to cast a stove or 
a car-wheel ? Here is your material. 

Converting Cast-iro?i into Malleable Iroii. — But this product, 
after all, is not pure Iron. You cannot forge it into a horseshoe ; 
it will not soften at a red heat, and it is brittle. 9 What is the 
mischief? The metal is permeated with carbon. But you 
thought it had been purged of all the impurities which the ore 
contained. It had indeed : but during the process, it absorbed 
five per cent, of carbon 10 from the coal that was in the furnace. 

1 Other layers are added as the burden sinks down. 

2 In the large anthracite furnaces, the pressure of the blast is often 8 pounds 
upon the square inch. 

3 Homer represents Hephaestus as throwing the materials from which the 
shield of Achilles was to be forged, into a furnace urged by 20 pairs of bellows. 

4 By employing air heated to 6oo° or 8oo°, only one-third or one-fourth as 
much fuel is required, and ore can be reduced three times as fast. 

5 The air — conducted through a series of pipes placed above the furnace, 
so as to be heated by the blaze that constantly issues from the top — is forced 
by the piston into a large reservoir, whence its own elasticity causes it to flow 
in a regular unintermitting stream into the furnace. 

6 In this manner the smelting often continues uninterruptedly for five or six 
years. 

7 As we are considering that element of value which labor imparts to Iron, 
it should be mentioned that the maximum of strength, elasticity, etc., is arrived 
at only after the metal has undergone twelve successive meltings. 

8 Origin of the term pig-iron : The blocks of Iron formed in the large main 
channels of sand were called sow-metal, and the smaller blocks formed in 
smaller side channels communicating with the large ones, were called pig- 
metal — from the fancied resemblance of such a cluster of blocks to a sow 
and her litter of pigs. — Pen. Cyc. 

9 Though cast-iron acquires a certain degree of flexibility and even of 
malleability on exposure for several days with iron-scales to a red heat. 

10 Where the carbon is in perfect chemical combination, the metal is white 
and lustrous, and on account of its tenacity and difficulty of fusion, it is un- 


i6 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


Having ejected this intruder, we shall have the metal in its 
purity. 1 

Suppose it to be already in a reverberatory furnace (a puddling- 
furnace) at the point of fusion ; the sheet of flaming gases is re¬ 
flected downwards from the arch upon the molten mass till 
the carbon is burned out, 2 when the product is cleansed by 
squeezing and finally rolled to give it fibre 3 and shape. This 
finished article is wrought-iron. 4 

Cotiverting Cast-iron into Steel. — But we do not yet find a ma¬ 
terial which may be converted into edge-tools. For such a use 
this malleable Iron would scarcely excel lead. It will be remem¬ 
bered that the cast-iron which we put into the reverberatory 
furnace contained five per cent, of carbon ; had we burned out 
only three and one-half per cent, of this substance, the product 
resulting 5 might have been so tempered as to take and keep an 
edge. 0 However, that metal which was converted into wrought- 

suited for casting, but may be employed in the preparation of wrought-iron 
and steel. Where the carbon is only partly dissolved, the metal is grayish, 
and at 1832 F., it fuses to a mobile liquid mass which flows readily into all 
parts of a mold. This gray metal does not admit of being worked in any 
other way, as it is extremely hard and brittle. 

1 Though this purity is not absolute. Malleable Iron has from ^ to % per 
cent, of carbon, a trifle of silica, etc. Really pure Iron when polished is of a 
white color. There is no Iron in use which is purer than the fine wires of 
piano-forte cords. 

2 As in the blast-furnace we fed the oxygen (of the ore) with carbon that it 
might become carbonic oxide, so in the reverberatory furnace we feed the 
carbon (of the cast-iron) with oxygen that it also may become carbonic oxide. 
This puddling operation requires from 1^ to 4 hours. 

3 Naturally of a granular texture, Iron is made fibrous and tough as it is 
wrought under the hammer or the roller. 

4 Does not fuse until 2912° F. 

5 Crude steel. Blistered steel is obtained by filling an iron box with bar 
Iron and powdered charcoal, and then maintaining the whole for several days 
at a red heat. Both kinds are rendered uniform by hammering (tilted steel) 
or re-melting (cast-steel). 

6 “ Articles of steel are generally forged and cooled quickly. They are 
then heated a second time to a temperature which is the higher the softer the 
steel is intended ultimately to be, and from this temperature they are permitted 
to cool slowly. This is called the tempering of steel. By varying the tem¬ 
perature to which it is raised, and the rapidity with which it is cooled, it may 
be obtained of all degrees of hardness.” — Geo. Wilson, F. R. S. E. 

After cutting instruments have been fabricated they are so annealed as to 
acquire certain colors, thus (proceeding from harder to softer): the finest 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


17 

iron by the expulsion of all its carbon may still be converted into 
steel 1 by reversing the process and adding to it one and a half 2 
per cent, of carbon. 

Mr. Bessemer’s method of converting cast-iron into malleable 
Iron and semi-steel, with no other fuel than the carbon contained 
in the Iron, is wonderfully ingenious, though very simple, as the 
greatest things usually are. 3 It must gradually 4 revolutionize 
this department of iron-making. 

Do you not find yourself admiring the curious and beneficent 
adaptations which are displayed in the complicated chemistry and 
metallurgy of Iron ? Do you not find yourself admiring the hu¬ 
man mind — so fearfully and wonderfully constituted that it may 
discover these subtle and intricate laws of matter ? Do you not 
find yourself admiring that so attractive a field should have been 
opened to human skill and industry ? Such admiration, it seems 
to me, ought easily to mutate into praise and thanksgiving. 

Mining and Movmg Ore. — But I have not quite dismissed 
that view of Iron which regards it as opening a wide and desira¬ 
ble field of labor. We have taken the ore at the furnace when 
it was worth from four and a half to five and a half dollars, and 
converted it into usable Iron when it was worth from forty-four 
to one hundred and fifteen dollars 5 ; and we have taken the Iron 

knives, pale yellow ; pen-knives and razors, golden yellow; axes, chisels, 
scissors, and ordinary knives, brown to purple-red; swords, gimlets and 
watch-springs, bright blue; the blades of saws, dark blue. — F. Schoedler, 
Ph. D. 

1 See note above, on Blistered Steel. 

By sprinkling ferrocyanide of potassium upon red-hot agricultural imple¬ 
ments, etc., a coat of steel may be formed on the surface, imparting to them a 
great degree of hardness and durability. — Stockhardt. 

a Authorities differ : Wilson, ; N. Am. Cyc., 1 to i|; Schoedler, 1 to 
2 ; Johnston, seldom 2 ; Stockhardt, 2 to 

3 Bessemer’s process was patented in 1856. The principle of it is to burn 
out the carbon of the melted crude pig-iron, as received from the blast-furnace, 
bv blowing atmospheric air through it, the chemical operation evolving the 
heat required to keep the mass in fusion. The process requires only thirty or 
thirty-five minutes. 

4 There are several of the Bessemer converters in the United States, 
(seven works in 1868), and several times as many in Europe (at least eighteen 
in England, and in other countries, thirty-seven). 

5 Bulletin of American Iron and Steel Association , October, 1872. [Being 
remarkably well known and remarkably uniform in character, “ Scotch pig ” 
is the standard by which the price of Iron is commonly quoted.] 

3 


i8 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


and manufactured it into various utensils, when it was worth 
thousands of dollars, perhaps tens of thousands. But there is 
much before this. 1 

I should smile, men of Moriah, to find myself explaining to 
you how the ore of Iron is mined, raised from the pit, assorted, 
and conveyed to the wharf, depot or furnace. What I could tell 
you about this would contrast with what you could tell me, as an 
alphabet contrasts with an epic poem. You — who from boyhood 
have been familiar with those five acres of ore-lands at Mineville 
which were formerly sold 2 for fifty cents per acre, and are now 
worth — how many millions ? I am not to teach you how to loosen 
a body of ore, or how to load a pile. It is enough for me to 
recognize — thankfully — that hundreds and hundreds of our 
people find very remunerative employment in mining, handling, 
and removing the contents of the ore-bed. 

The Poetry of Ore. — But stay a moment, brother-workman : 
have you the art of conjuring up pleasant thoughts about those 
dark, horny, heavy fragments of rock which sometimes vex you, 
sometimes wound you, oftentimes weary you ? That load of five 
tons and a half upon which you are seated, -r- do you see anything 
written in those lumps ? The thoughts of the All-knowing One 
in regard to them are full of entertainment. If we might read, 
as God does, the careers to which they are destined, — very thrill¬ 
ing might be those stories. Does this lie beyond the sphere of 
our knowledge ? Then it lies in that sphere over which imagina¬ 
tion is to preside. 

Perhaps a portion of that ore may be converted into a minnie- 
rifde and guide a ball to the heart of some general, who was just 
anticipating the huzzas of victory; perhaps a portion of it may 
cover the string of a piano whose music — under the touch of 
another Beethoven — shall waft the spirit of a dying sister into 
the Beautiful Land; perhaps a portion of it will appear in the 
fagade of some palatial dry-goods store, on Broadway or Chest¬ 
nut Street; perhaps a portion of it will form the needle of some 
pale, sad, weary sewing-girl whose tears gush at the fiend’s sug¬ 
gestion of a gilded and giddy life outside the precincts of virtue ; 
perhaps a portion of it may be transmuted into a dye which shall 
give complexion to the coat of a Senator, while he expounds the 

1 M. P. Smith, Esq., sells his ore for $1.00 per ton in the vein. 

2 Most of them. Watson’s History of Essex Co . 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


19 


Constitution; perhaps a portion of it will be taken as a medical 
prescription, rekindling the flame of a life that had begun to 
flicker ; perhaps a portion of it will be fashioned into a pen 
with which some timid lover shall write — “Will you?” while 
perhaps another portion may be converted into the ink with 
which a maiden shall write her sweet— “ I will ” ; perhaps a por¬ 
tion of it may be molded into an idol, sold to a Hindoo, and 
have prayers offered to it; and perhaps yet another portion of it 
may be fashioned into a screw which shall bore its way through 
a little coffin-lid into the heart of a mother, while she sobs — “ O 
my baby ! ” 

Brother-teamster, your load of ore is full of stories — romances, 
comedies, tragedies—if you would but open your ears and lis¬ 
ten. 

But it is time to find 

AN END 

to these Studies. 

General Thankfulness for the Multiform Blessing. — We have 
admired the chemical relation of Iron to oxygen, silica and car¬ 
bon— a divine contrivance; the diversified and convenient prop¬ 
erties of the metal — divine inventions ; its multifarious and in¬ 
dispensable uses — divine provisions ; its incomparable abun¬ 
dance and world-wide diffusion — divine arrangements ; its call 
to lucrative labor — a divine intention : and in admiring it all we 
have simply admired the divine : do we not find ourselves grate¬ 
ful and thanks-giving to a Divinity that is so beneficent? 

Particular Thankfulness for the Iron-kmgs. — One or two other 
motives to gratitude suggested by this subject, I cannot wholly 
neglect. I have already referred to operations in Iron as affording 
the multitude employment, a handsome livelihood, and the oppor¬ 
tunity of accumulating something which may be put at interest 
or invested in some profitable way. I am now to mention, as a 
matter for thankfulness, that doing business in Iron yields some 
not only a competence, but abounding wealth. Are there twenty 
of you, my hearers, with large, ox-like hearts — generous and 
philanthropical ? I should deem it cause of thanksgiving, if you 
might every one possess a source of wealth like Twenty-one or 
Twenty-five. It is on these large accumulations of property that 
we rely for the promotion of the. general welfare in ways that are 
expensive, too expensive for people of ordinary means. Would 





20 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


the public good be subserved by voluntary expenditures for a 
lengthened side-walk, or the procurement of local telegraphic 
facilities, or the painting of a weather-worn meeting-house, or the 
purchase of an excelling church-organ, or the reconstruction of 
an ill-conditioned school-building, — it is very comfortable to 
remember that there are leisure funds at the next door. And 
when a public library is brought into existence, or when a house 
of worship is erected, or when a superior institution of learning 
is founded and endowed, to whom are we likely to be indebted 
for the benefit? Very frequently, in the main, to some one of the 
money-kings. 

And while we give thanks to God for the rich man’s ability to 
do splendid things, and for his disposition to do them, let the 
rich man also give thanks for his opportunity to be magnificently 
useful. He is among those who are privileged supremely. Does 
he found a great college or university ? He not only opens a 
fountain of blessing to thousands of youth who are thirsting for 
knowledge, and to tens of thousands who are yet unborn, but he 
builds to himself a monument of the most honorable and en¬ 
during description. 

The other day I turned to one of my Cyclopaedias, a large 
work in sixteen volumes, and sought the proper noun, Matthew 
Vassar. I found it: a liberal space was devoted to the celebra¬ 
tion of this name : Why ? Its owner had invested 1 over $ 400,- 
000 in the founding and endowment of Vassar College. Had he 
done with that property as many would have done, he would 
scarcely have been known beyond the limits of Poughkeepsie, 
and in twenty years Poughkeepsie herself would have forgotten 
him ; whereas now — scarcely nine years from the opening of the 
institution that he founded, his name is known from ocean to 
ocean, aye, and beyond the oceans, and a hundred years hence, 
two hundred years hence, the name of Vassar will be more fa¬ 
miliar and more renowned than it is to-day. 

I turn the leaves of my Cyclopaedia in search of the name of 
Samuel Williston. I find it. What has he done that should 
entitle him to such distinction ? He has put a quarter of a mill¬ 
ion of dollars into an academy of the highest rank — Williston 
Seminary, and has besides made larger donations to Amherst 
College than any other man has. 

1 At the outset; by his will there were added more than $150,000 ; indeed, 
he is said to have spentupon the institution “nearly a million of dollars.” 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


21 


Once more I turn the leaves of my Cyclopaedia in search of the 
name of Ezra Cornell. I do not find it. Why, has he not found¬ 
ed, with exceptional munificence, 1 a university that is becoming 
famous? Yes, indeed ; but when my Cyclopaedia was published, 
he had not founded a university ; he was nothing but a rich man. 

It will be remembered that the Hebrews, Greeks, Arabs, Per¬ 
sians, and others, regarded the number seven as sacred, symbol¬ 
izing perfection. The golden candlestick of the Tabernacle had 
seven branches. Now I am interested in this venerable number. 
If I were to name a college, I should certainly prefer a word of 
seven letters. “ Amherst ” is composed of seven letters, and so 
is “ Bowdoin,” and “ Rutgers,” and “ Oberlin,” and “ Cornell,” 
and “ Harvard.” 2 Is it two hundred and thirty-four years since 
Mr. Harvard founded that college near Boston ? His name has 
grown more and more illustrious to this very hour. I dismiss 
this topic with a quotation from the tragedy of “Julius Caesar.’ 
Cassius impatiently exclaims to his friend Brutus — 

“ Brutus ” and “ Ccesar ” : 3 what should be in that “ Caesar ” ? 

Why should that name be sounded more than yours ? 

Write them together, yours is as fair a name ; 

Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well ; 

Weigh them, it is as heavy ; conjure with ’em, 

“ Brutus ” will start a spirit as soon as “ Caesar.” 

Let me say again —Give thanks for the iron-kings. 

Thankfulness Supreme for the Agency of Iron in Civilization. — 
One point more. Thank God for Iron as a conspicuous and in¬ 
dispensable agent in the advancement of civilization. There are 
two forces 4 which have wrought together in effecting human prog¬ 
ress ; I mean Iron and intellect. The intellect has done the 
contriving, and its contrivances have been executed through the 
agency of Iron. This metal is the instrument by which modern 

1 From the assistant treasurer of the institution, I have a polite note un¬ 
der date of December 7th, which communicates the following : “ Mr. Cornell 
has recently signified his intention of giving the University another $500,000, 
which will make the Founder’s fund, $1,000,000. The University farm is also 
a gift from Mr. Cornell, which with other gifts (too numerous to mention) 
amount to at least $200,000 more.” 

2 I have a list of thirty-nine other collegiate institutions in the United States 
whose names are composed of seven letters ! 

3 In the recital of this quotation from Shakespeare, Harvard was substituted 
for Caesar,” and another name for “ Brutus.” 

4 There is a third force — Christianity —- which has had a hand in the matter. 


22 


IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


civilization has been achieved. I look upon this as the lordliest 
fact that is relative to Iron. 

In an infantile state of society there are few wants, and those 
are very simply supplied, so that there would be little care about 
better tools. And then the ore of Iron is so difficult of reduc¬ 
tion — more refractory indeed than the ore of any other metal — 
it is so difficult of reduction, I say, that an infant people, with 
their rude processes, would be induced to content themselves with 
limited supplies. But as they rise a little in the scale of intelli¬ 
gence, their wants multiply a little, and they acquire a little en¬ 
terprise in procuring implements, as well as a little new skill in 
reducing an ore and working its metal. 

For example : while men are content to live in huts of turf or 
stone, they do not miss the carpenter’s tool-chest. But when 
they aspire to live in log-houses, they have urgent use for metallic 
implements, rude ones at least; and when they aspire to elegant 
residences, they must have a variety of edged tools, with nails and 
hangings and fastenings. At every step in this progress, there is 
an increasing demand for Iron, and the progress could not be 
continued without the Iron, nor without an increase of it. 

Then, again, while men are content to dress in the skins of 
wild animals, they can easily dispense with metallic conveniences 
for sewing ; but in process of time, steel needles will be required 
imperatively, and at length there will come a demand for all the 
Iron and steel of the sewing-machine. 

While people peregrinate on foot or on the backs of camels, 
they have scarcely any wants that call their attention to things 
ferruginous ; when the saddle-and-bridle era arrives, they have 
serious needs that Iron might supply; when they aspire to car¬ 
riages, the springs, tires, braces and bolts will doubtless be the 
product of an ore-bed ; and when the era of rail-cars arrives, 
what a world of metal for the track, engines, car-wheels and axles. 

These instances may be generalized into the statement that 
the extent to which Iron is consumed by any community , measures 
the progress of that community in civilization. Taking all the 
races of the world together — savage, barbarous, half-civilized, 
civilized and enlightened — the average consumption of Iron per 
head each year is thirty pounds ; while in the United States there 
is an average of one hundred and fifty pounds, and in England, 
of two hundred. During the recent years, the progress in arts, 
manufactures, and trades has been more rapid than ever before. 



IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


23 


Seventeen years ago, the average quantity of Iron consumed per 
head throughout the world was only seventeen pounds. 1 

I am superlatively interested in this debt which civilization 
owes to Iron. It is the ladder — the absolute sine qua non — by 
which our world has mounted to great heights of privilege. Were 
there no Iron, though gold had been as abundant as Iron is, men 
could never have emerged from barbarism. 

Edged tools are a primary condition of any considerable ad¬ 
vance in the career of improvement, and a cubic yard of gold, a 
cubic mile of it, could never yield one knife-blade. 

Iron, then, with the cooperation of intellect, has brought us up 
out of barbarism to the age of elegant homes, beautiful garments, 
and lovely instruments of music, the age of sun-pictures and 
printing-presses, the age of sewing-machines and mowers and 
reapers, the age of steam-engines and railroads, of steam-ships 
and telegraphs. And Iron is the instrument by which the race is 
to continue its progress. It is the opinion of a writer in the 
“ Popular Science Monthly,” that the whole world will ultimately 
require as much Iron per head as we now consume in the United 
States, when a total annual production of 70,000,000 tons will be 
required, — five times the product of the year 1872. And so it 
will come to pass that the Golden Age 2 3 which the poets have 
sung of will be an Iron Age, will it not ? 

Soli Deo Gloria. 

It is not surprising to me that the heathen of former times 
either attributed the discovery of Iron to their gods, or elevated 
the men who were supposed to have done it, to the rank of gods. 
We, too, recognize the merit of such benefactors, acknowledge 
our indebtedness to them, and hold their names in pleasant and 
honorable remembrance. That genius who, in the days of Adam, 
facile princeps , invented the forging of Iron — Tubal-Cain ; the 
father of the modern iron-trade, he who introduced, in 1783-4, 
the invaluable processes of puddling and rolling— Henry Cort 3 ; 

1 In the United States, 84 lbs.; in Great Britain, 144- 

2 Don’t apply your rhetorical test-paper to this allusion. The real Golden 
Age is not to be sought in the past, and it will consist of something else than 
the down on a butterfly’s wing. 

3 Cort was allowed to starve, though he spent £20,000 in perfecting those 
inventions which have conferred upon Great Britain a property equivalent to 
£600,000,000.— Encyc . Brit. 


I 








24 


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



IRON MORE GOLDEN THAN GOLD. 


that expert whose steam-engine offers power for pumping mines, 
raising ores, producing copious and regular blasts, and moving 
the machinery of forges and rolling-mills — James Watt; he who 
in 1824 suggested the heating of the furnace-blast, by which two 
thirds of the fuel is saved and the production increased four¬ 
fold — Beaumont Neilson ; he who supplemented Neilson’s in¬ 
vention in 1837 — applying the waste gases that escape from the 
top of the furnace to the heating of the blast— Faber du Four ; 
the master who taught in 1856 how to convert the product of the 
blast-furnace into wrought-iron and semi-steel without fuel and 
with great saving of time and labor—Henry Bessemer •—the 
debt which we owe to these worthies, and many others, some 
of them known, perhaps more of them unknown, we would not, 
shall not, forget nor undervalue. Yet, you and I, citizens of 
Christendom, cannot deify Tubal-Cain, Cort, Neilson, and Besse¬ 
mer. Recognizing the infinite One, we have no room for “gods 
many.” Ours is the better, the sublimer part, of rendering heart¬ 
iest thanks and highest honors unto Him who endowed our bene¬ 
factors with their surpassing intelligence, and who also imparted to 
I?'on its invaluable and wondrous properties . 


therefore, unto tfjc august Creator, tljc bountiful i3robttrer, the 
sagacious antr benignant Arranger, be rentreretr antr a^crtbeU, as? is? 
nios't true, alt praise, mtgl;t, majcs'lu antr bominton, both nato antr 
eber. &mcu. 





















































